Wednesday Morning News Roundup

Hundreds of volunteers will clean up San Francisco's most visited neighborhoods Wednesday as the city's summer tourism season gets underway, according to the San Francisco Public Works department.

The Hotel Council of San Francisco and San Francisco Travel will host the Love Our City Hospitality & Tourism Cleanup Day in partnership with the public works department. Mayor London Breed will launch the day's activities at 9 a.m. at Embarcadero Plaza.

"We're stepping up with new investments to clean up San Francisco, including adding more trash cans, more street cleaning, more public toilets and more dedicated cleaning teams in targeted areas," Breed said in a statement.

The upcoming workday builds on a citywide Love Our City cleanup last fall hosted by Breed and San Francisco Public Works that drew hundreds of volunteers from around the city.

Thirteen present and former San Francisco police officers sued the city in federal court Tuesday, claiming that they have been discriminated against in promotions because they are white.

Twelve plaintiffs are current officers who allege they were passed over for promotions to sergeant, lieutenant or captain because they are white males. The other plaintiff is a retired sergeant who contends she was passed over for promotion to lieutenant because she is a white lesbian.

The lawsuit claims violations of federal and state anti-discrimination laws and constitutional rights. It asks for an injunction barring the alleged bias and for compensatory and punitive financial awards.

The defendants include the city, the Police Department, the Police Commission, Mayor London Breed, former Mayor Mark Farrell, Police Chief Bill Scott and former Chief Greg Suhr.

John Cote, a spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, said in a statement, "The SFPD uses lawful, merit-based, competitive civil service examinations in making promotions.

A retired peace officer with experience in training police officers in the use of force said the Vallejo police officers' fatal shooting of rap artist Willie McCoy, 20, in a Taco Bell drive-thru in February was reasonable and in line with modern training and police practices, a city official said Monday.

City Attorney Claudia Quintana referred to a May 17 report by Dave Blake of Brentwood-based Blake Consulting. Quintana posted Blake's report and a news release about it on Vallejo's website Monday.

Quintana said the report details the legal background and the reasons behind Blake's conclusions. But she said it is important to realize that there is a difference between what force is reasonable from a civil liability perspective and what outcome city officials and the community wanted.

"The death of Mr. McCoy is not the outcome that the City of Vallejo and our community desire," Quintana said.

A letter by Blake to Assistant City Attorney Kelly Trujillo, said the review of the Feb. 9 fatal shooting focused on the constitutional aspects of the use of force as well as any human factor psychological aspects which might apply.

A three-alarm house fire has been extinguished in the East San Jose foothills after it was ignited Tuesday afternoon by sparks from downed power lines.

The fire was reported at 12:34 p.m. at 14988 McVay Ave. Fire officials initially said two homes were involved, but later said the fire was stopped after coming within an inch of the second home.

The woman who lives at the burnt home was away with family at the time of the fire, and will be displaced for the time being, according to fire Capt. Mitch Matlow.

A third of the house is burned and the rest of the home has water damage, in addition to about 1 acre of burnt vegetation.

A resident called 911 after they heard a pop, had their power go out and looked outside to see flames, Matlow said. A full investigation into the fire could take as long as three weeks.

Hundreds of workers who help prepare meals for flights taking off from San Francisco International Airport are considering striking due to low wages, union officials announced.

According to Unite Here Local 2, the threat of a strike comes after months of bargaining with airlines like Delta, American and United, which have failed to satisfy the workers' demands for higher wages.

The workers, many who make around $18.66 per hour, said they can barely make ends meet and can't even afford the company medical insurance because of its expensive premiums and co-pays.

"Airline catering workers are tired of watching United, Delta and American Airlines make huge profits while they struggle to pay for unaffordable healthcare with poverty wages. We're saying one job should be enough, and airline catering workers are ready to fight for it," Lorraine Powell, food service director at Unite Here Local 2 said in a statement.

According to union officials, United, Delta and American made $50 billion in combined profits over the last year.

East Bay Municipal Utility District directors voted 5-1 on Tuesday to approve a water rate increase totaling nearly 13 percent over the next two years.

The board's vote means that the water agency's 1.4 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will face a 6.5 percent rate hike on July 1 and another 6.25 percent hike on July 1, 2020.

The rate hikes follow an increase of nearly 20 percent over the past two years.

EBMUD officials said the average single-family residential customer using 200 gallons of water a day will see their bill rise by $3.62 per month starting on July 1 and another $3.73 per month on July 1, 2020.

In addition, the average homeowner will see a 3 percent increase on July 1 and an additional 4 percent hike in 2020.

A motorcyclist died in a collision Tuesday afternoon on westbound state Highway 4 in Pittsburg, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash was reported just before 2:20 p.m. on the freeway between Loveridge and Somersville roads. A 61-year-old Antioch man died after he was ejected from his Harley Davidson, which collided with a BMW, CHP officials said.

The name of the motorcyclist will be released by the Contra Costa County coroner's office. CHP officials said the cause of the collision is under investigation. The driver of the BMW escaped injury. He stayed at the scene and cooperated with the investigation.

All lanes of westbound Highway 4 were closed for about an hour and reopened at about 4 p.m. CHP officials said they don't know yet whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.

Anyone who saw it or the events leading up to it is asked to call the CHP at (925) 646-4980.

Wednesday will be partly cloudy in the morning, then becoming sunny. Highs will be in the 60s to mid 70s. Southwest winds will be 10 to 20 mph.

Wednesday night will be mostly clear in the evening, then becoming mostly cloudy with patchy fog after midnight. Lows will be in the mid 50s. West winds will be 10 to 20 mph.

Thursday will be mostly cloudy with patchy fog in the morning, then becoming partly cloudy. Highs will be in the 50s to upper 60s. Southwest winds will be 10 to 20 mph.